Tugboat related issues, comments, and opinion.

So it begins…

Waiting for a gal named Irene. She’s got attitude and no mercy for anyone foolish enough to get in her way. Kinda like putting yourself between a crowd of shoppers and the front door of the Super Walmart on double coupon day.

Sitting and waiting isn’t too awful bad, here the calm before the storm. As she gets closer to the Greater New York Metropolitan area we’ll have increasing rain and wind that will make staying at anchor an interesting exercise. With the amount of wind we’re expecting we’ll have the maximum amount of anchor wire we can safely slip out and not allow ourselves to drag over the flats on the Jersey side or the wall on the Yonkers side.

We have a lot of company. At least a dozen tug and barge units are shoe-horned into the anchorage from the George Washington Bridge to Dobbs Ferry Landing. Not exactly inside the charted anchorage, but deep water and good holding ground. No one will be allowed in the NY Upper Bay or Gravesend Anchorages after this afternoon, all ships have been ordered to sea. The “Staying in Port” form for us has been filed and we’re one of dozens of units that have or will drop the hook in the Hudson from Yonkers to Albany to wait out the storm. Alas, my truck sits in Port Richmond and exposed to the predicted and imminent tidal surge. Sigh..